The Sinister Superman Sandbox Syndrome

I have a million things to get to but it's been a week from hell and I am just putting down the first thing that popped into my head. Future plans are for a Mekton/Mecha RPG post, some ruminations about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and of course, more Pokemon AD.

Wow. Whose table-top RPG blog reads like this? Seriously. I am pretty proud to have written that sentence. OK, enough of that. Back to near crippling self doubt...

For now, I wanted to talk about something that occurred to me while reading a recent post by none other than the ever intriguing Noisms. While his train of thought and mine do not always line up, I am always willing to jump on that train of his and take it a few stops just to see where it goes.

This time is goes into an idea about forests and fire-fighting Elves and such but that's not the part that really caught my attention. The part that got me was that he uses, as a point of reference, a post by Zak Smith wherein Zak details what Noism calls the Superman Sandbox Problem. 

Very much worth a read as are most all of Zak's posts. The crux of the matter I want to discuss is that Zak states that in a sandbox style game, the heroic characters are at something of a creative disadvantage.

Hmmm. Perhaps disadvantage isn't the right way to put it. The idea is that a roguish character is more proactive, while a heroic character is more reactive. Therefore, the rogue sets up his or her particular encounters, whereas the hero simply chooses one option or another or blindly bumps into an option that GM has chosen.

Let's say a group of players with roguish PCs decide to - let's use one of Zak's own examples - steal a car from the used car lot, use it in the getaway from a bank robbbery, amd then ditch the car by a church afterwards.

Zak says in his post that if the PCs try to enact this scheme during a game, they basically create that session's adventure. The 'Adventure writes itself' he notes. 

The idea is that this doesn't happen for Superman because...because...wait. Why doesn't it work this way for Superman?

In the same post, Zak gives various possible examples of how a heroic character, Superman in this case, could possibly interact with the sandbox world he's in: As we did for the roguish PCs, let's pick one possible option. For today's session, Superman wants to, umm, ah-ha! He could try to free Mon-El from the Phantom Zone (in the privacy of his own home, I suppose). [In the Fortress of Solitude - ed.]

Here's the difference (according to Zak's post):

"While any of these things may result in a conflict (and thus an adventure), the Superman PC--unlike the rouguish PC--has no idea of what the shape of that conflict will be."

He...um...what? Sorry, I'm not understanding.

How does the rogue in the previous example know, in advance, what kind of security the bank has? How does he know the condition of the car he and his gang have stolen? What if Clark Kent just happens to be in the bank depositing his latest check from the Daily Planet at the time of the robbery? What if the Flash is in town and hears about the car being stolen from the used car lot? What if the used car has a crappy transmission or something else is faulty that causes the car to stall?

Likewise, how does Superman not know he will probably have to face off against villains he and his father trapped in the Phantom Zone when he goes to free Mon-El? Doesn't going to free Mon-El go virtually hand-in-hand with saying, "I feel like getting into a tussle with Quex-Ul, Zaora, and General Zod today"?

Furthermore...

"Superman does not choose to sketch out a violent conflict. The rogue does. Superman chooses from a set of options whose consequences (conflict-wise) are mostly unknown." Zak writes.

I guess...but no more or less so than the rogues. It's a matter of perspective and approach. To further illustrate what I mean, let's look at Zak's scenario for Superman in a Metropolis sandbox and compare/contrast it to similar ones I've used (with some pointers taught to me by my Champions Guru friend Will Corpening)...

Zak posts:

"Ok, so picture this:

A GM somewhere writes out the city of Metropolis and the city of Gotham and the rest of the world of DC Comics in excruciating detail. The train lines, the shopfronts, which hot dog store owners are secretly shark-men, every inch of it. It's all ready to go.

Now here comes a PC playing Superman, into this sandbox.

"So what do you want to do today, Supes?"

"Uh, I guess I'll go on patrol."

Off he flies.

"Do I see any crime?"

"Umm, nope, not much, Metropolis is a fully-functioning independent world going about its business."

"Ok, I keep going. Now do I see any crime?"

Right here at the end is where my view point differs. If Superman's player says he goes on patrol over the city, he doesn't find nothing to do. That's not only boring but it takes away part of the player being proactive. 

If the GM begins by asking the player what he wants to do and then the player tells her, then the GM should, ya'know, do that. Have that happen. Having that result in nothing makes no sense.

What the player is saying here, if they're a proactive player, is that they want to have Superman find street crime in Metropolis. Maybe they're tired of Brainiac and Bizarro and just want to stop some bank robbers in a stolen car.

If the rogues went to steal a car to rob a bank, would you tell them there weren't any cars in the lot? That none of the cars had gas? That the city had no banks? Of course not. The adventure writes itself, right? So why would a superhero deciding to patrol for crime find none?

My buddy Will would often open a Champions session by asking me where my character Starguard was and what he was doing. Here are just a few of the actual answers I gave:

He's in space deflecting a comet from hitting the Earth.

He's near Jupiter rescuing an alien starship caught in the planet's gravity well.

He's at our headquarters helping test our 'Danger Room' style training facility.

He's assisting another hero, trying to save the passengers and crew of a damaged 747. 

If you were the GM, what would you take from this? Will noted that I like to play up Starguard's 'space hero' nature,and that flight is important to me.

Do you think he just said, "OK, you deflect the comet/rescue the ship/save the plane. Now what?"

NO! How boring is that? Also, I as the player am indeed setting up for conflict in a proactive way. Why not take me up on it? If a bunch of thugs can turn a stolen car and a bank robbery into an adventure, why can't I do that with a comet and a bunch of aliens that need rescuing?

In the case of the comet, Will took the opportunity to tie my action into another player's opening game answer. My pal AJ said that his speedster, Pulse, was at New York City's South Street Seaport dealing with his arch-nemesis, the cold war, cold weather cretin General Winter. Apparently GW was using a device to attract the icy, space-born object towards the Earth for villainous purposes.

Pulse and Starguard

On the tail of a comet, as the trail goes cold!

In the instance of the 747, it was my attempt to not only do something classic for a flying hero (always wanted to save a plane Superman style) but also a chance to meet another hero from our world setting who maybe I didn't know. As it turned out, the flight was from New York to Atlanta, Georgia and I got to meet a few of the heroes of the South Eastern United States including Sure Thing (a favorite NPC of mine), Swift, and the high flying, evangelical Messenger.

It's a Sure Thing baby.

I always see gaming as a friendly tug-of-war, a push and pull between two forces, the players and the GM. I throw challenges at them to make them think and act to overcome obstacles, but they - especially proactive players - challenge me to come up with things in response to their ideas.

I don't really plan adventures with proactive players in the mix. I layout the sandbox, plant story ideas and options in the setting (hence my term 'Storybox' for my preferred style of play), and then see what the players have their PCs do.

They may feel like waiting for me to give them something.

"We scan the area. Any anomalous readings?"

"We check the Trouble Alert Monitor. Any crimes going on?"

They may want to pursue something mentioned in the background of the setting.

"If there's nothing pressing, we'd like to check out that planet you mentioned two or three sessions back. The one with the unusual rings. We never got to really look at it and it sounds interesting."

"Is Black Monday still at large? It always bugged me that he escaped. I want to investigate where he may have gone."

They may want to do something unexpected of their own design.

"The other players and I were talking and I think we have a way to upgrade the shjp's Star Drive using a new scientific theory I read about. We're going to dock at a space station and do some upgrades. Let's dock somewhere where we can get high tech parts and maybe find some work should the cost of the upgrades get expensive."

"The team and I talked about it and we're tired of having such poor relations with the Atlanteans. We're going to go on a peace mission to Atlantis, talk to their leader, and hammer out a treaty. Maybe we can help them find and capture that villain Wavemistress while we're in their region. That would really help getting them to see us favorably."

In the end, I agree that the proactive hero is less common than the proactive ne'er-do-well. However, I think that it may be that it's so because we've been trained (and trained ourselves) to think that.

It is also a trope of certain genres that the heroes lives are relatively calm and peaceful until such time as trouble strikes. Makes sense from both an emulation and simulation stand point. At the same time, lots of things happen to Peter Parker; Aunt May falls ill, Pete gets an assignment from or gets in trouble with J. Jonah Jameson, or realizes he's forgotten he had a date with Mary Jane tonight.  

That said, it's your game. There is no reason it has to be that way if you can fit the idea of a proactive benevolent character into the scheme of things without throwing the whole setting out of wack. My assertion is that generally speaking you can. Maybe not all the time, maybe not in every situation, but if the GM makes time for the proactive heroic PC, and the player uses that time in a sensible and entertaining way, well...why not?

AD
Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Bonus Round

Noting my dissatisfaction with some of the questions in this year's RPGaDay Challenge, my good friend, and fellow rebel pilot WQRobb let me know that Zak (of Playing D&D with Porn Stars fame/infamy) had created some RPGaDay questions of his own.

I notice that Robb has taken it upon himself to answer said questions, so I figured I might as well do the same. 

Here goes nothing:

***

 

1. Worst game you ever played

Ever played? As a player? So many bad ones it's hard to think of a worst. One reason I prefer to GM and dislike playing so much is because of a lot of my early experiences with other people as GM were not great to say the least.

My first time playing AD&D 1st edition went very badly. I was invited by a really good friend to play with his pals who were all a year or two older than me. I played an Elf and everyone else was Human. In addition to the Elf abilities in the Player's Handbook, I noted that Elves are immune to the paralyzing touch of Ghouls.

I was made fun of by the other players, mocked for trying to be a munchkin or power gamer and just generally given the 'check out the dumb newbie' routine. I apologized, saying I could have sworn I saw it in the books somewhere. They went all rules lawyer on me, reading chapter and verse from the AD&D Player's Handbook. They made me feel foolish, unwelcome, and small.

Following that one session I went home to find my Monster Manual, which clearly states the Elves' immunity under the Ghoul entry. I didn't game with those guys ever again (thank goodness). 

It was the beginning of my disinterest in D&D, where rules knowledge or a lack there of was a point that divided it's players, not something that united them. Whether or not you knew the rules took away from the fun instead of adding to it.

2. Interesting rule embedded within an otherwise baleful game

While I don't necessarily think the game is baleful, my players hated Encounter Critical. At the same time we all agreed that the idea of needing to accomplish something related to your class to go up in level is pure genius.

In others words, in order for the Pioneer to raise in level he or she must discover a new land or a new secret of the wilderness. For a Warrior to raise in level she must defeat an opponent of equal or greater power than herself.

That is sweet.

3. Game you never played but you knew it sucked just looking at it

Hmmm. I've guessed that a lot of games would suck before playing them, just by looking at the book, but I played them anyway in case I was wrong. 

Never played but knew it sucked? No. I just don't do that. I have to play it once.

4. Game you most wish didn't suck

Wow. Where do I start?

Decipher's Star Trek game. Goddamnit! There is no reason that had to be bad but it is. It's like a third rate, hackneyed copy of the LUG version. Awful.

ICONS. I want to like that game so much, but it's just a slightly less smooth Marvel Super Heroes/FASERIP. And I don't like that game either!

Dungeons & Dragons.

This could take a while...

5. Game about which you have the most mixed feelings

Shadowrun. I had so much fun with that game but it's so not me. Especially not anymore.

6. Old game most in need of an upgrade

Hunter Planet. And I will be the first in line to pick up the new edition if they make one.

7. Game you can run with the least prep

Star Wars D6. I don't even need the rulebook really.

I like doing a lot of prep for it but I've run it on the fly so many times with nothing but dice, pencils, and paper.

8. Game with awful art (and who you wish you could hire to fix that)

Sorry to say this, but Mekton. I would hire an actual Japanese manga artist to do it. Two actually. Heck, I would hire any one of the non-pro fan artists on pixiv, the Japanese equivalent of DeviantArt. One for the Mecha images and a character design artist for pictures of characters.

I've always said in regards to Mekton, Toon, and Superhero games, "If your game is essentially about an visual entertainment medium, it should look like that medium.

Anime/Manga themed games have no excuse for not looking good anymore. 

9. Best houserule you've seen in action and now use in your own games.

I gotta go with what WRobb said on this one. I already answered this.

See the original RPGaDay entry.

10. Game you've most changed your thoughts/feelings about

Classic Traveller. I went from hating it the first time I played it to having it become one of my all time favorite games. I love it to the point where all the other versions pale in comparison (with the exception of MegaTraveller).

11.  Game you'd use to run just about any setting if you had to

I tend to believe the game system should match the setting. A one size fits all game doesn't really work for me.

That said, my modified Teenagers from Outer Space game, nicknamed Advanced TFOS, is the closest thing to a generic, universal game I can think of. I like it a lot.

12. Game that haunts you and you're not sure why

Haunts me? In what way? How would I not know why? I...no idea what this is asking.

13. Game that would probably be most fun to play a bee in

Toon or the Bunnies and Burrows campaign we had in the early 80's. Damn fine game.

14. Best Star Wars game?

Star Wars D6, 2nd Edition by West End Games. This isn't even a question. 

15. Game that's good in theory but you're kind of on the fence about it to be honest

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

It works, it's fun, and I even like it but I can't see it as my go to game for Superheroes. Considering how much I like the Superhero genre for gaming, why then would I bother grabbing MHR? That is, if I know it won't sustain a long term RPG campaign, what is to motivate me to use it for anything but a one-shot or at a con.

Not bad. Some interesting, and fun questions. Thanks Zak, and thank you Robb.

***

In conjunction with WQRobb, and Lord Blacksteel , I am looking to have the three of us create some questions of our own for next year. Stayed tuned for updates.

AD
Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2015 - Day 29

 

This one is tough, and for all the best reasons.

In the 7 years that my own blog has existed (Seven years? Holy Moley), I've come across some really excellent blogs, as well as helpful websites. I have also seen some fantastic blogs, and bloggers, come, and go.

I've made the acquaintance of a number of my fellow bloggers who I'd actually call friends, though we've never met in personal. Likewise, I have met a couple in person, and those were pretty great experiences.

When trying to identify a favorite however, that's when things get difficult. Choosing among my friends? That I simply won't do.

Instead, here is a list of favorites, alphabetically by author:


Charles Atkins' Dyvers Campaign

Lord Blacksteel's Tower of Zenopus

Lowell Francais' Age of Ravens

WQRobb's Graphs, Paper and Games

Zak Smith's Playing D&D with Porn Stars


In addition, here are a few that qualify more as websites than blogs, to me at least, but some of them have blog elements:


Plot Points - Resource for the Marvel Heroic RPG.

Rancor Pit - Forum for Star Wars D6 and general Star Wars RPG material.

TrekRPG.Net - Forum for all thing Star Trek RPG related.


Finally a special shout out to WQRobb of Graphs, Paper and Games. We seem to be of a kind he, and I. Although not identical in our preferences, it's nice to know there is someone out there who likes what you like. In our differences is where we learn from each other, and improve our craft.

I want to also say to those not listed up there in the top five, that not being listed doesn't mean I don't love you. Oh, no. I simply have a lot of favorites, and can't list them all, so I picked five.

It has to be said that I don't randomly add every gaming site I see to my blog roll. You might notice that compared to some blogs, my list of followed bloggers here on the right side is pretty small. If you're on there it's 'cause I think your blog, and your ideas, are something special.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody!

AD
Barking Alien

Five By Five

I had a very interesting weekend.

(By the way, Happy Independence Day USA! Um...belated ^ ^; )

Sunday I taught the first classes of my summer program at the tutoring center in Brooklyn where I work on weekends. In addition to reading and writing, my morning class of second to fourth grade students created characters for Faery's Tale Deluxe. Hopefully I will tell you more about that in the near future.

Saturday my group and I played the second session of our new Champions Superhero campaign, Champions: REBIRTH. Not all of those in the first session were able to make it, although my friend Hans did, which was awesome. We also added a new player, which, well, I'll address my feelings on that in an upcoming post.

Looks like I already have some great material for my next few blog entries.

On Friday, July 4th, I went to New Jersey (yes, on purpose!), in order to run a game for some ol' friends, including my ex-wife. The game?

Basic D&D, using the free PDF of Wizard of the Coast's 5th Edition rules set.

In honor of it being the fifth edition, I'm going to break down my thoughts into five, small sections. Here goes:

Disclaimer: This is not exactly a review. This is a combination of first impressions, how play went, and the opinions I, and the other players, had after the game session was over. Your mileage my vary. Widely.

Wait...before I begin, rant coming...

I have to say, I am really glad I do not consider myself part of the D&D fan community.

In the handful of days since the PDF has been available...

There is already a controversy over some of the people who were involved. I'm not going to speak on the subject, as I have not really come face-to-face with the negative nature of those people. Why not? How did I avoid it? One has always been nice to me, even when we've disagreed (which is often), and the other, well, is a D&D person. I don't go to the blogs of too many strictly D&D people. Old Schoolers even less so.

I was treated like a newb on Google+ for asking exactly where on Wizards of the Coast's site you would go to download the basic rules (I asked 'where', and was mostly answered with when. Attention D&Ders:  It has come to my attention that you were not informed of this as children, but time and place is NOT the same thing. They are in fact, two DIFFERENT things. You're welcome. Glad I could help).

When I asked for the opinions of those fans of older D&D games, who also liked what they'd read in 5E, how I could best use new elements that they found interesting, I was given the most generic answers possible. Stuff like, "The rules are a tool. You have a new hammer, with a handle, head, and claw that are a little different than the one before. The hammer design might excite you a little, might not, but what you're making with the hammer better light your fire." Gee thanks. If only I were an adult, Human being with over thirty-seven years of gaming experience I would've known that. Wait...yeah.

I can only surmise that much like DC Comics has absolutely no clue what makes their characters and universe cool, a large number of D&D fans don't know why they like D&D. It was first, so they do. I've always thought that was the case. Now I know for sure.

Zak Smith himself responded with, "I think that's a bad way to go in--you're basically asking for preconceptions. Just read the rules and do what you're gonna do." Yes Zak, that is EXACTLY what I am asking for! If I were going to 'do what I'm gonna do', I'd not bother with 5E at all. I'd just as soon go play Champions, Star Trek, Star Wars, Traveller, Teenagers from Outer Space, InSpectres, Mekton, Faery's Tale Deluxe, my Galaxy Quest game, my Muppets RPG...you get the picture. Thing is, I promised some gaming friends I like gaming with that I'd run the new 5E rules that were recently released. Not being a D&D fan, I thought (foolishly it seems) that those who ARE fans might give me some ideas for what to do with some gamers who share their preference for the beast.

Honestly though, Zak's advice was the best I received.

I am glad I gave 5E a go, and I had fun thanks to the players involved, but trying to get real assistance and a genuine 'sense of community' from the D&D community at large is a no go. I won't bother in the future. It's like trying to get a straight, and truthful answer out of a politician. Forget about it. It'll just harsh your mellow.

Now, on to the actual post...

Take Five 

When I first read through the Basic Rules for 5E (and this was the first I'd ever seen of it), I was a little disappointed.

I had not been part of the playtest, and had no real interest in most of the posts about interviews with the creators, rules reveals, or the like. I would love to say my expectations were low, but some recent conversations with Charles Atkins of the blog Dyvers, had gotten me a little excited. He made it sound really cool. Plus, Zak was involved, and I thought, 'Well, Zak has cool ideas so, maybe this will be good.'

It's not that it wasn't. It just wasn't exciting. It was nothing really special. Nothing stood out. Nothing grabbed me. I felt like I was reading a blog post of some one's campaign who had thrown some indie stuff into their D&D game. OK. That's all though. Only OK.

Number Five Is Alive

After trying (unsuccessfully - see above) to get some help and some ideas percolating, I put together a really simple story idea I've used before for other D&D and similar games. I created a couple of monsters, and rolled up an NPC to balance out the party. I was going to have three players, and I already knew they wanted to play a Halfling Fighter, a Dwarf Cleric, and a Human Rogue. I made an Elf Wizard, and the party was good to go.

Character creation, while quicker than some of the previous editions, still took much longer than I expected.

As I mentioned, one of the players was my ex-wife. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't just dislike D&D, I would hate it with a passion. She likes it, and she has a way of making me like it while we're playing together in the same game.

This was no different. She took to the new rules pretty quickly, and liked several of the new mechanics. She especially like the Inspiration related character elements. I like that part too, though I have seen its like many, many times before.

She made the game come to life really, as her excitement over there being a new edition made me excited to be running it.

Five For Fighting

Two things I do like about the new edition is that it isn't all about fighting, but when the fighting does start, it moves pretty smoothly, and quickly. Now granted, this is the basic rules at their most basic. Very likely, additional rules and options in the Player's Handbook will slow down the easy breezy feel of the basic rule set quite a bit, but still, this is a vast improvement over the grinding, 'button-mashing' feeling of 4E, and 3E+'s gluttony of feats.

The Fifth Element

I have to say that my favorite thing about Fifth Edition is that it isn't Fourth Edition. I am not sure I can say that I can identify it's particular, unique flavor as of yet, but it does not feel as MMO-video gamey as it's predecessor. At the same time, it does have a few features that my MMORPG obsessed buddy found both familiar and interesting. I find that refreshing. Maybe, without trying so hard to appeal to both the table top and laptop gaming, WotC will be able to actually accomplish that feat.

Give Me Five

I am glad I downloaded the basic rules, and it was fun to play. Not Champions fun, or Mutants & Masterminds fun, or even Marvel Heroic fun, but fun. If I had to play D&D, or else my eyes with be poked out with red-hot chopsticks, I would prefer to play this.

I am highly unlikely to purchase the game, but I think my ex-wife definitely will. It is possible at least one of the other two players will as well.

Good work Wizards of the Coast.

I was hoping for something a little different but what you have works.

Kudos.

AD
Barking Alien

Into Trekness...The Naked Now

This post may be a bit all over the place. I'll try to reign in my stream of consciousness but it may be difficult. That's just how my head is working at the moment.

I had a rather interesting day yesterday.

While much of it was no different from any other day, I did get some good news, saw a friend or two and feel generally and genuinely inspired.

Some of the good news will have to wait for a later post but I would like to mention getting to see the Fredericks and Freiser Gallery show of our very own Zak Smith.

Is he our very own? He's one of us surely...but...he belongs to the world!

Where was I? Oh yes! It was a fantastic show. A smallish collection of his work but every piece interesting, even intriguing. The sense of scale is something you don't always get when you see Zak's artwork on the internet. Some of the pieces, most of them, were much larger and even more intricate than I imagined from seeing them online.

I got to say hi to Zak (which was nice) and I got to meet Mandy in person for the first time (which was also very nice). Oh, and Mandy's dog, who was very cute and handled the limelight like a pro.

If you're in New York City or can get here I highly recommend checking it out. The exhibit lasts until the end of the month.

After leaving the gallery I hopped on over to my FLGS, The Compleat Strategist. There, I said hello to the owner Danny, the manager/my friend Larry and my friend and player Ray. I usually only go there on the weekends these days so I don't often get to see Danny or Larry. I've known these guys forever. Danny since I was 14. That's thirty years. Yikes.

Finally I came home to an email from another of my players, Will, who is part of our monthly Traveller game. To say 'part' is insufficient. He is the major driving force of our first adventure/story arc. It would be a very different, much slower game without his motivation and input.

Anyway, the email was to let me know he saw my blog, discovered I'll be talking about Star Trek gaming this month and running Star Trek at the next RECESS and was very encouraging about both prospects. That felt good.

You see my little tribbles, sometimes I feel alone in my love of Star Trek gaming. Yes, I know there are fans out there tuning in to this secure Starfleet channel and its for you guys as well as myself that I dedicate blog space to the subject. It is an extra special and rare treat these days however to get a thumbs up from someone I know and game with in 'real life'.

 

The lengths some players will go through to avoid playing Star Trek.

Fine, you guys win. I'll run Superheroes. Again.

 

 

This Star Trek themed month is starting off slow, with more raw emotion and less refined ideas, but have no fear, I'm just getting warmed up. It isn't easy to cold start a warp core.

 

AD

Barking Alien



Supervillainy A-To-Z: M is for Master Plan

Oh boy. I am in trouble. Big trouble.

 

How am I ever going to complete this challenge by month's end?

 

No clue, so no use griping about it. My focus at this point is on other things. The real world beckons for my attention and I must give it its due. Fear not old friends, I am not defeated yet and where there's a will there's a way. Possibly a dead guy. They have wills too.

 

My next villain has been a major player in many of my older games, yet once again I don't think the system (The ICONS Superhero RPG for those following along at home) does him any justice. He doesn't seem mechanically special. It will be up to me to convey his coolness in other ways and up to you, the GM who uses him in a game, to bring that coolness to the table.

 

Wish us both luck.

MASTER PLAN
  

 

True Identity: Milton Paternaster

 

Description/Appearance: Milton Paternaster is a plain but decent looking Caucasian fellow in good shape, with brown hair and green eyes. Paternaster is in his late 30s. He stands just under 6 feet in height and weighs around 185 lbs.. Over time he has worked out and may look a bit more fit than is reflected in early descriptions.

 

As Master Plan, Milton is garbed is a form fitting black costume with white gloves, boots, shorts and a large 'M' insignia on his chest. His detailing is purple and green, including a letter 'M' on his forehead and belt buckle. He also wears a rather flamboyant cape which is purple on the outside and green on the underside.

 

Origin and Background: Milton Paternaster was born a prodigy.

At the age of 4 he solved a Rubik's Cube, guessed the Riddle of the Sphinx, and could program a VCR or DVD player with no instructions. By 6 he had read Tolstoy, balanced his family's household budget, done their taxes, and found a way to rewire the TV for free cable. By 12 he had graduated High School. By 15, he had a doctorate and a master's degree. At the age of 18...he was incredibly, unendingly, and painfully bored.

With money from various grants and patents coming in (he had invented several computer programs and apps when he had nothing else to do), Milton had no real desire to get a job or start a career working with, or heavens forbid...underneath, a person of normal intelligence. Instead he sought a real challenge and whiled away the hours designing various insidious plans and inescapable death traps, inspired by the villains he would see on the news and in movies.

Certain that he had surmised their true reason for failure, Paternaster created a costumed identity for himself and set out to test his theory against real law enforcement officers and superheroes. While his first few forays were not especially successful, it was not success he was striving for. He was never caught and his true identity never identified. There in lied the crux of his first, big plan. Supervillains never assumed they'll lose and yet always seem to. Paternaster, or Master Plan as he called himself, planned to lose [or at least assumed he would] from the very start. He also had 5-10 different ideas for escaping and getting away.

Soon, he starting focusing on winning while still fully expecting to lose. The key was planning. Contingency on top of contingency and back-up upon back-up. If 'Plan A' didn't work, no worries, as Milton has a Plan B, C, D, E and probably alternatives all the way up to W. After years 'in the game' as he calls it, Master Plan was finally thwarted by the combined efforts of Mothman, American Dream, Blues Traveler, Mr. Spaceman and others, who went on to form The Heartland League.

He spent little time in prison however as he had a plan on how to escape all along. OK, actually, he had a least two dozen of them.

Powers and Abilities: Outside of being one of the smartest people on the planet, Milton Paternaster has no superhuman powers. He is a scientific and technological genius as well as a master tactician and strategic mind and has developed several high tech devices to assist with his activities.

Master Plan's costume provides considerable resistance to harm, while his mask/reinforced cloth helmet protect him from mental attack. Master Plan is also highly trained and practiced in the art of resisting telepathy, ESP and mind control as he views those as the only things that can hope to defeat him. His thoughts are his ultimate weapons, so if an enemy can read his thoughts, he's done for.

Other devices Milton has created include a force field generator in his belt, various energy weapons and remote control units for the innumerable robots, traps and hidden passages weaseled away in his different secret hide outs.

Personality and Motivations: Master Plan is snarky, bold and a bit condescending to most people who encounter him and, honestly, it comes as no surprise. He is smarter and better organized than 95% of the Superhero and Supervillain community. As a result he appears to have a major ego but (and this is not to say he doesn't have one) his ability to keep himself in check is perhaps his greatest asset and what prevents him from being just another mad genius.

That said, Master Plan will never turn down a challenge to his intelligence or skill. He enjoys pitting himself against detective heroes in battles of wits as much as proving brain is greater than brawn over superpowered paragons. He plans for everything and so there isn't a type of hero, or villain, he will not face.

As noted, Master Plan is well respected, if envied and despised, by the rest of the supervillains of the world. He wins fairly often when they lose constantly and yet his goals have nothing to do with wealth, vengeance or taking over the world. Where would the fun and competition be if he won the final battle without question and conquered the planet? No, that way only leads to boredom and with a mind like his, even defeat is preferable to such a hell.

***

Master Plan was created for Villains & Vigilantes when I was in Junior High School I believe. He has been used in Superworld and Golden Heroes/Squadron UK. He has not been used for Champions prior to this post but I do intend to add him in to our next campaign.

Master Plan is the villain we all think we see in comic books but rarely ever actually do. Doctor Doom is too much. Marvel's Wingless Wizard is too little. Dr. Sivana never wore a costume or had a code name. The Silver Age Lex Luthor is close but when was that last time Luthor was that guy? Seriously, the closest character I can think of relating Master Plan to is Syndrome from The Incredibles.

Master Plan for ICONS:

The illustration for this character was shamelessly swiped and modified from one of Count Nefaria

done by the incredibly talented Dusty Abell.

***

I am sure I have missed a number of birthdays and deaths and I don't want to go through them all now but I do want to make special note of a couple.

 

Happy Birthday to Mandy Morbid! Mandy is probably familiar to many of you from Zak Smith's blog PDNDWPS. She is also Zak's girlfriend. Zak put up a really cool post that recounts Mandy's past characters. So cool and kind of sweet if you ask me. I want a girl like that. That is, a girl who likes to game and is really cool and stuff.

 

Another Happy Birthday cheer for one of my childhood heroes, Lee Majors, the Six-Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy. I remember thinking this guy was the King of Cool when I was a kid, right behind William Shatner. It helped that my dad was a big fan as well.

 

A Rest in Piece guitar riff goes out to Woodstock alumni and fascinating fellow, Richie Havens, who passed away yesterday at the age of 72. Read his Wiki entry and you'll be surprised to learn what he did that most people don't know was done by him. Peace out Mr. Havens.

 

AD

Barking Alien

Counterbalance

The never-lacking, ever-metal Zak at PDaDwPS posted this entry which he dubbed Balance.

In it he says, essentially, that he is cool with any puzzle, trap or encounter the PCs of any given game may come across as long as there is a possibility that a reasonable group of average, intelligent people (the Players in this case) can survive and defeat it.

I am paraphrasing of course and probably not doing it justice.

 Go read it. Come back after. I'll be here.

Hmmm-hmmm. Da-dee-da.

Back? OK.

I agree whole heartily with everything this says.

Then I reach this point...

"Allegedly there are GMs who won't give you the chance to puzzle it out and who won't agree with you about what's a good idea. When I meet one I'll start worrying."

...and my first thought is, "It must be nice to be Zak."

Now I don't mean this facetiously. I don't mean because he gets to have sex with some of the most beautiful women on the planet or because he is such a skilled artist. My envy does not stem from these...well...ok, maybe the first one...but the point is, I envy someone unfamiliar with the GM who won't give you the chance to puzzle it out and who don't agree with you what's a good idea.

I can assure you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that my time in the hobby would've been very different if I had not met the very GMs of whom he speaks. I am primarily a GM and no lover of Dungeons & Dragons to this day because that is what I encountered when I played that game and a number of others.

From as early as my first game of AD&D 1E to the last game I played over the internet, I have encountered GMs who can't believe you tried multiple times in multiples ways of figuring out the puzzle but weren't thinking of the one-and-only-thing-that-would-work-which-is-based-on-an-obscure-concept-that-I, the GM-spent-the-last-three-weeks-figuring-out.

Nope sorry. Funny? That I am. Creative? I like to think so. Capable of an excellent William Shatner impression? Most definitely. Telepathic? Nope, can't help ya.

"Really Adam? Really? You couldn't figure out that the way of escaping the trap was eluded to by the images of goats in the ballroom tapestries? Don't tell me you aren't familiar with 14th Century French Tapestry Art and the meaning of their images as political and social symbols. You didn't get the reference, you don't know tapestry art and you failed to ask the seamstress who I mentioned walking by and waving to you all as you approached the castle. I gave you every available chance. Do I have to spell it out for you?"

Yes. If you are going to use information no one knows but you and make it the key to enjoying this adventure than f*^&ing Yes!

In reference to the GM who doesn't agree with you on what's a good idea, if I had a nickel for every time I've encountered or seen that I would be able to buy back my entire collection of original Star Wars figures and brother, I had a Bantha load.

I remember one instance that still keeps me up at night sometimes.

I was watching some friends play a Sentai RPG campaign run by a female GM who they knew but I did not. Basically it was a Superhero campaign styled after Japanese Super-Sentai shows, what we know here in the US as 'Power Rangers'.

A PC villain, after monologuing triumphantly at how he had trapped the Red and Blue Rangers, also PCs, blasted them with a huge, spherical energy bolt. The way in which they were trapped made it impossible for them to dodge, reach for their weapons or whathaveyou. There was barely enough room to move but there was that much. It seemed they were doomed!

With nothing to lose, my pal Nelson, playing the Red Ranger, swung his arm to simply backhand the ball of energy away. The look on Nelson's face, the sly smirk, the steely gaze, was enough to send the villain Player reeling back with a nervous chuckle. We knew Nelson had formed a plan, an explanation for the insane action in the same moment he thought of it.

The GM said, "You can't do that. It's an energy bolt. It will explode. You're hit. Take..."

"Wait!", said Nelson, "Our armor is energy resistant and PseudoScience/Magic. This is Sentai and Sentai is Japanese. Japanese characters have a precedent for batting away energy blasts. Goku of Dragonball Z does it all the time, as did characters in many older series created by the same guys who created the first Sentai shows."

Then the villain's Player piped in as he was the true guru on all things Sentai. "Actually in one of the early Sentai shows one or two of the characters could defect lasers with their hands or bracelets, not unlike Wonder Woman. I'm cool with this. He can try to deflect the blast."

No. The GM would not allow it. It didn't make sense to her.

When the term 'Old School' is bandied about, I tend to think of GMs and play styles like that. When I wasn't GMing, when someone else was, most of the other GMs I encountered were very much like the woman in the tale above.

So forgive me my gripes and jabs at Old School in general and D&D in particular. I can name the GMs I've met in my 35 years of experience who were not like that out of memory. I can count them on one hand. I might need to include my other hand were I to include myself in their number.

I hope you all appreciate the time you spend not playing with those GMs or being those GMs. Smile about it and give thanks.

Good gaming all.

AD
Barking Alien

The Old Dog Yawns

I may have an answer for Noisms question, paraphrased of course, "Why don't we discuss how to be a good GM or what can we learn from other GMs on our gaming blogs?"

If I had to go by the number of views and comments I've gotten since doing so I'd say it's because not very many people are interested.

As such, I will probably stop doing this soon and discuss other things. In truth, I've always felt that since the majority of bloggers are GMs (as opposed to being Players only game bloggers), all the content on all the blogs help you be a better Gamemaster. No?

Take Jeff Rients most recent post, which is now a month old. Are you telling me you can't find something in that to improve your game in some way? This post wasn't helpful? Zak routinely spouts words of wisdom for the aspiring Gamemaster. As do many, many others.

None of my posts on Star Trek have been useful to the Star Trek GM? No Superhero RPG elements I dicussed were of any concern to the referee running into snags in his or her comic book campaigns?

Pity.

I think of it the same way I think of the other type of RPG content. I don't really look to the blogs for new spells, new monsters, NPCs or the like unless someone does something a little unusual. I look to old books of folklore, video game and movie concept design, public domain pulp stories and comic books. I go where there are cool ideas and no stats and I add the game elements myself.

So what helps me run games better? When you guys and gals out there argue over some silly rule or another I look at how I handle it and improve it if needed. I take ideas on how to organize your campaign or draw maps and say, "Well this is how I do maps now. Does their way over any advantage? Can I incorporate that advantage into what I like about what I already do? Hmmm...sure, if I alter that and tweak this (various cartoon crash and spring popping noises)...Presto!"

Anyway, got to work on some stuff for the way too many game things I can doing in the next month or so. If you're a GM and you're wondering how to do something better and I can help I will. Just let me know.

AD
Barking Alien